


A Few Oneshots Because I Couldn't Decide

by DiamondDove



Category: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - Michael Scott
Genre: M/M, fluff?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28675728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiamondDove/pseuds/DiamondDove
Summary: Gift exchange over on the SINF server! Really couldn't decide what to write... so there's three oneshots here!(I had a few waves of anxiety while I was writing these (for unrelated reasons) but I hope you still like them JK!!)
Relationships: Aten/Quetzalcoatl (Nicholas Flamel)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. Request

“I am beginning to notice something,” Aten said, folding his hands behind his back, turning his head slightly as he looked out over the city. The sun caught the side of his face, and though he already glowed naturally (literally, the Change had caused a faint golden glow to shine out from just beneath Aten’s skin), for a moment it seemed like he was made of gold. Shimmering, just slightly beneath the sunlight.

“And what is that?” Quetzalcoatl shifted slightly as he spoke, looking away from Aten’s face and pretending he hadn’t been staring. The feathers that were more present on his head than actual hair, and ran along the length of his tail shone in the sun.

“No one respects me anymore,” Aten’s voice almost sounded like a growl, and his annoyance was clear.

“Well that’s a lie,” Quetzalcoatl responded, rolling his eyes.

“How so?” Aten asked.

“Of course people respect you, you glorified lamp. You’re no doubt among the best of us,” Quetzalcoatl said.

Aten chuckled lightly. “I know  _ you _ do, feathered brute. I’m talking about everyone else.”

“What about your brother? I don’t keep up on your family drama but it doesn’t seem like he’s been plotting your death lately.”

“He still willingly worked with my mother to try and overthrow me. And he spends most of his days in Isis and Osiris’ Underworld Shadowrealm, and  _ they _ think I’m as ignorant as a child,” Aten said plainly. As if the separation of his family was nothing to worry about. Nope, no chance of assassination there. “He probably thinks I’m an idiot. Such a shame. I would have thought Anubis smart enough not to fall in with whatever crowd Isis and Osiris work with, but he continues to disappoint me.”

“Hm.” Quetzalcoatl searched his mind, running through the list of Elders that currently resided in Egypt. Now that he considered it… Aten was right. Almost all of them had at least said something negative in passing about him. None of them seemed to hold the same respect for him as they had when he ruled over Danu Talis. It looked like he was the only real exception. And there was no way that he would ever lose his respect or adoration for Aten. Not at this point, anyway.

“I think I know how to earn it back, though,” Aten said. 

Quetzalcoatl recognized that tone of voice, he was talking cautiously now. That meant whatever he was about to say… Quetzalcoatl would either really hate it or would reluctantly agree to it. Probably both. It was usually both.

He sighed. “And your idea is…?”

“l simply take over the kingdom.”

Quetzalcoatl laughed, a grating raspy sound, heavily affected by his Change. Surely, this was a joke? Aten had had some pretty, well,  _ adventurous _ ideas in the past, but a takeover of the entire kingdom? That was… well it was just  _ stupid _ .

But Aten didn’t laugh.

Aten just tapped his foot patiently on the ground until Quetzalcoatl’s laughter died down.

Quetzalcoatl cleared his throat. “You… You actually aren’t kidding, are you?”

“No. And I’m telling you, Quetzalcoatl, it  _ will _ work.”

Quetzalcoatl crossed his arms and looked at Aten skeptically, his tail tapping against the ground as he thought. “And you  _ are _ aware that no Elder currently living in this  _ entire _ kingdom is going to just  _ let _ you take over? You’d have the entire pantheon against you”

“I know I can’t make them accept my rule if I do it alone,” Aten said, turning to face Quetzalcoatl, stepping towards him. “But you could help me. I… Together we could do it. We could rule together. He reached out and placed his hands on Quetzalcoatl’s shoulders.“I will not force you to help me, but I am going to try and do this regardless of your decision.”

Quetzalcoatl swallowed hard. Did Aten know? Had he figured it out somehow? He knew he wasn’t the best at hiding his emotions but he thought he’d been doing at least a decent job… 

Aten lifted his hands off Quetzalcoatl’s shoulders, turning away and sighing. “I- I am sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I shouldn’t be asking this of you, you have your own life.”

“I didn’t even answer you yet, idiot,” Quetzalcoatl muttered.

“I can read your answer on your face, it’s alright that you don’t want to help, I understand Quetzalcoatl, really, I do” Aten’s words were sincere, and he began to walk away.

Quetzalcoatl let him get about three steps before he reached out and caught his hand. “I was going to say yes, you know. I’m not just going to let you take on the entire kingdom on your own.”

Aten turned his head and smiled, “Well, come on then. I’ll tell you the rest of the plan on the way.”


	2. Waters of Sudden Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lads chat in the middle of a boat at sea

Aten, former lord of the now fallen city of Danu Talis, looked out over a surprisingly calm sea. Over the past few weeks, the earthquakes had been wreaking havoc on the ocean floor, pulling sediment up to the surface, creating and destroying rock ledges. The journey away from Danu Talis⎯or what had once been Danu Talis⎯had been a rough one. Supplies would begin to run thin in a few weeks. Although, the dead fish that were floating to the surface of the ocean were currently still fresh. They were probably killed last night, or in the early morning when the latest bout of lightning and earthquakes had come down on the water. They could probably push the food for another month if they got enough fish.

Someone else came up beside Aten, and he didn’t need to look over to know who they were. Quetzalcoatl, one of the remaining children of the Archon Coatlicue. Aten had drawn him out of the wreckage of his boat, feathers skin and scales burnt terribly. Aten didn’t know why he’d done it when his crew had actively protested against it. The only real conclusion he could draw was that at the time… he was prepared to risk it all to just save a little bit of the city he’d ruled. And to be honest, he didn’t regret it. Quetzalcoatl, despite his injuries, was very entertaining. He was aggressive, defensive, and passive-aggressive at a level that rivaled Bastet, but he also spoke with enough negative energy to be positive entertainment. 

“We don’t have ice. All that fish you’re having the crew get is going to go bad extremely quickly.” Quetzalcoatl rasped, carefully crossing his arms, avoiding his remaining burns.

“We’ll figure something out, don’t worry about it,” Aten responded lightly.

“Mhm, we’re in the middle of an ocean headed south, judging by the sun. I don’t think we’re going to come across an iceberg out of sheer luck.”

“I know. Anyway, how are your burns healing up?” Aten said, changing the subject to something a little bit lighter.

“Well, obviously I can move around decently now. Doubt the feathers will take long to begin to grow back. Stubborn things,” Quetzalcoatl’s tail coiled itself around one of his legs.

Aten tilted his head slightly to the side. “May I ask a question?” 

“It’s not like I’m gonna stop you.”

“How did you and my mother come to hate each other so?”

“Ah, well you see, it’s a very simple story, she thought that because my mother is Coatlicue--you know that one extremely dangerous Archon that the elders all banned together to lock away in a Shadowrealm?--I should die. I thought that because she was overall extremely annoying, and also treating everyone around her like utter trash,  _ she _ should be the one to die. However, neither of us have decided to die, which has led to more than a little conflict.” Quetzalcoatl responded simply. “Honestly, if I was you I’d have had her assassinated a long time ago.”

“Oh it would have certainly stopped a lot of things from happening, but believe it or not she used to be quite lovely to be around,” Aten said, tilting his head and continuing to stare out at the water. 

Quetzalcoatl raised an eyebrow. “Really? Well, forgive me for finding that hard to believe.”  
“You’re forgiven. But it’s true. Of course, it was before the Change took over, and I believe you only became properly involved with the political faction of Danu Talis after it had started, so you probably just caught the tail end of it. No pun intended.” Aten said hurriedly. The end of Quetzalcoatl’s tail twitched.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that last bit. So basically what you’re saying is that she was a good person and then she turned into a cat-headed homicidal dethronement-plotting manipulative… well, you can fill in the rest.” Quetzalcoatl said, gesturing vaguely and attempting to mask a wince as he accidentally hit one of his burns.

Aten sighed. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. Things were so much better in the old days…”

“Speak for yourself, prince.” Aten could hear the eye roll in Quetzalcoatl’s voice. “Some of us had to kill people to earn respect in the old days. You just had to be a half-decent ruler.”

“Ah, my bad, I’d almost forgotten about that. It wasn’t exactly something I cared much about, no offense.” Aten said hurriedly.

“None taken. The impact of what I did was still what I wanted. I don’t care who actually heard of it.” Quetzalcoatl’s tail twitched like it was just waving dismissively.

“Alright,” Aten said, crossing his own arms over his chest.

The two of them stood there for a while longer, staring out at the sea. Occasionally they would think that they could catch a glimpse of what might be another boat, but the glint of light disappeared quickly, and always turned out to just be water. 

But hey, surviving the fall of the only city you’d ever really known was much more comforting with someone to talk to.


	3. So We're Hiking Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's,,, it's just Mac and Billy talking and walking for a bit after the Anpu incident. My brain died halfway through so,,,

Billy the Kid stared at his car (or rather, stared at what was left of it) and groaned. Broken doors, torn metal, torn seats… dog hair. In other words, completely ruined.

“Dammit. I was at least hoping for something I could fix up but… yeah I don’t think I can even get this off the road without the whole thing collapsing or something.” He said. “Wonderful.” He turned to Machiavelli, the man he’d found himself thinking of more than usual, who was also the man standing next to him. “Well, Mac my man, ready to go for a hike?”

Machiavelli had been mainly regarding the ruined car, but he turned his head to look at Billy when he responded. “If you are.”

“Of course I am. C’mon, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.” He said, beginning to walk. Machiavelli was there beside him, walking. 

From what Billy’d figured out about the Italian was that he was a quiet type, more intent on listening and figuring people out than talking. Billy didn’t mind though, because it wasn’t every day that he didn’t have to compete with someone for time to talk, especially because he talked a  _ lot _ and liked to ramble on about things. 

He could just talk around Machiavelli. 

And it felt  _ good _ . 

Like if he was driving down some road running parallel to the sea, windows down, at maybe eleven or midnight. 

Of course, there were a dozen other things he could compare that same type of conversation to, but the cold ocean fit best, he thought. Maybe because Machiavelli himself was like salt and cool air and the rhythm of waves that might change when the environment did but was still always there. 

Billy didn’t really know why that was his analogy—he’d probably wander down that rabbit hole later though—but being able to ramble on uninterrupted and still have a proper conversation was just  _ like that _ to him. …Freeing, if that was the right word. He had a lot of thoughts and didn’t like just keeping them bouncing around his mind. Even if half the time people forgot or disregarded said thoughts because he talked so much.

“So… Do you have any idea why those anpu would be after us? I mean, do we know if they just acted on their own or if they were sent on a job?” He asked, looking at Machiavelli.

“They were sent. I am quite sure that there  _ are _ packs of self-governing anpu who deserted from the rule of Elders, but they stick to Shadowrealms. Particularly the outer ones, the ones more wild and suited for freer pack hunting. They fell out of fashion quite a few centuries ago, but there are a few Elders who still use them.” Machiavelli responded calmly, tilting his head slightly to the side as he thought.

“So… what  _ exactly _ did we just drop off at Quetzalcoatl’s that’s enough to really get other Elder’s attention?”

“...I have no clue,” Machiavelli admitted.

“Also why were we trusted to deliver whatever it was? There has  _ got _ to be more secure ways of doing this stuff, right?” Billy asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“True, but the Elders are like that. I stopped questioning why they did things the way they did a while ago. I focus more on why they’re deciding to do the thing in the first place.”

“What do you mean?” Billy questioned.

“If I look for motives, find out why something is happening, I can adapt to and prioritize parts of it much more efficiently,” Machiavelli replied simply.

“I’ll bet you find ways to turn it to your favor.”

“I certainly do something like that”

“Cool, anyway, so what’s life like living almost exclusively in the city? I’ve lived in smaller towns and wilderness all my life, and I’ve stayed in plenty of cities before, but only for a few weeks at a time. Really I’ve wondered what it’s like to actually  _ live _ in a city, y’know?” Billy asked, switching the subject to a random thought.

“My city experience, or what I think other people’s are?” Machiavelli asked.

“Yours, obviously,”

Machiavelli thought for a moment or two, tilting his head to the side again. “Well, it’s something I’m used to. I take some small comfort in knowing that unless the world ends tomorrow, I’ll almost definitely wake up to the same clash of noise and movement. Despite that, I tune most things out on most days.”

“Huh. Every time I go to Paris I always try and take in as much as possible. I always take the same route to your house, so I know where I’m going, but I always wanna… I dunno, feel everything,” Billy said, slipping his hands into his pockets. “Cities have a heartbeat, you know? They hum, they buzz with energy, always moving, almost never the same, but still rhythmic and familiar. I always want to see it all,” 

“I understand.”

The two of them fell into silence for a bit, feet crunching on dry dirt and stones. Billy knew Machiavelli didn’t mind the silence, but damn what he thought because silence was somewhat unnerving to him. 

Probably because back in his day he’d learned to sit and search for sounds when things were quiet. If you couldn’t hear the wildlife, you were in danger. Footsteps in the night could be anyone. A sudden twig snap could be anything. Cows and horses could get spooked by a pretty decent variety of things. He was too used to being put on edge in the silence.

Oh yeah and the fact that they’d just been chased by dog-headed human-ish things that had screamed so horrendously that there was still a very faint residual ringing in Billy’s ears did  _ not _ help. It just made him mildly anxious because he didn’t know if he would miss hearing something.

Like the sound of anpu stalking them or something. Which was probably not very likely but you never know.

“Do you have a favorite color?” Billy asked suddenly, saying the first thought that came to mind in an attempt to start some sort of conversation.

“I’m not sure. I’m not one to pay too much attention to colors.”Machiavelli said.

“I’m gonna be real honest with you here, I don’t think I can pick just one. I can pick places and maybe pick out a thing I like because of how the color looks in that place, but I can’t just definitively pick one color out.” Billy said, shrugging slightly. “Red is cool though.”

“You’re only saying that because it’s your aura color, aren’t you?” Machiavelli said. Billy didn’t even have to look up at the man to know he was smiling. It came through in his voice, that one specific little teasing smile Billy had only seen one or two times before. He smiled.

“Well you did your research well, how’d you figure that out?” He asked.

“Your aura sparks when you get stressed. I noticed it when you were driving.” Machiavelli said, almost passing his tone of voice off as a simple statement.

“My, aren’t you smug,” Billy said, grinning.

“And here I was thinking I could hide my tone from you.”

“Excuse me, no one can hide their tone from me. I live for two very simple reasons: adapting humor to almost every situation, and refusing to die out of spite.” Billy said, mocking offense. “I need to know how identifying tone works for that first one.”

“And the second?”

“Oh that one’s easier, I just gotta be stubborn and mad, which is something I’ve been doing for maybe a  _ little _ too much of my life. It’s like a backup plan for me now but back in my day… well. You did  _ not _ want to catch me on a bad night's sleep. I was a little too ready to jump to my offense, and almost always alert. Believe it or not, I didn’t drink much. My Ma raised me well, despite how I turned out.” Billy said, calmly. “Anyway, moving on, cats are pretty rude I think.”

“I’ve never had one”

“Neither have I. They always look like they’re judging my worth though.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Pretty rude of them.”

“Indeed.”

“Mhm.”

And then there was silence again. The ringing in Billy’s ears was really gone now, so that was comforting. He could hear the wind and the birds properly now.

“Hey, do you regret picking snake?”

“I- What?”

“Your aura scent, do you regret picking snake?”

“Do you regret picking cayenne?”

“I mean, I can’t say I haven’t regretted it at least once. It makes people sneeze sometimes.”

“Ah. I think I regretted picking snake for a little bit. But it’s grown on me, and served me well.”

“Ok, so I have got to ask, why did you pick snake anything?”

“This went from walking to the nearest town to a full interrogation, didn’t it?”

“How often do you have actual  _ conversations _ ? Your bodyguard doesn’t count”

“Do you really want to know the answer to that?”

“Yes.”

“Excluding business because that’s mainly negotiation and instruction… maybe once every month or two.” Machiavelli paused “Oh. Actually, that’s probably not good.”

“Yeah, it really isn’t! So we’ve been having this cool thing called a conversation where we get to know each other! That’s what we’ve been doing!”

“ _ Oh. _ ”


End file.
